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            In April's PSN, we talked about using a firewall (hardware and software) to protect your computer from Internet threats when you're always on-line with a DSL or cable modem connection. A new software firewall called ZoneAlarm 2.0 has recently been released, and it's FREE. Check it out at http://zonelabs.com. You can also visit the ShieldsUP site (http://www.grc.com/su-firewalls.htm) to read a review of ZoneAlarm 2.0 and other products.

Will They Ever Quit?

            Nope! Free Internet access comes with a price, and that price is generally ad banners you can't close and that consume valuable desktop space. At least with other free services, television and radio, there is content between the ads. As if the recent brouhaha over DoubleClick wasn't enough, another startup company, Predictive Networks, thinks it has the ultimate solution-software installed on a user's computer that tracks every site a Web surfer visits and compiles a digital silhouette. Every site! It can also track whatever you type while on-line, but Predictive Networks hasn't decided whether to do that (yeah, right). The Plan? Advertisers will pay heavily for such targeted information, thus keeping free Internet service, well, free. Or maybe more profitable for ISPs. The upshot? Maybe the permanent as banners will go away and we'll get to see some content between popup ads. Making it so easy to track customers will encourage ISPs to do so.

Get Rich Quick!

            What to do? Grab a potentially hot domain name, maybe sit on it for a while, then sell to the highest bidder, or maybe that big-name company the domain name could represent. They're called cybersquatters, and it just got tougher for them. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (say that 3 times!) signed into law late last year makes it much easier to take legal action against them. Under the new law, it only has to be proved that the cybersquatter "displayed a bad faith intent to profit from his actions."